Wednesday Blago Thread

I’m going to dump my Blago items all in this one post today. Roman numerals will be included.

Here’s a good observation from a commenter over at Matthew Yglesias’ blog: ...Barack Obama may have done a greater service for the people of Illinois by resigning his senate seat than he would have by completing his term, considering that the vacancy he left is what lead to the particular bit of corruption in which Blagojevich was caught red-handed.

Update: I almost forgot - Happy Birthday Rod! (He’s 52 today).

Update II: Watching the Illinois News Channel’s feed of Fox News Chicago, apparently there isn’t any protest in front of the Thompson Center where Blagojevich is expected to soon arrive to report to work. That’s disappointing.

Update III: Judy Baar Topinka being interviewed on FNC is all sour grapes and joins Jim Edgar in blamming the voters for Blago's corruption. Topinka also says she thinks any appointment of a new senator by Pat Quinn would be tainted as well. What? That seems a bit of a stretch. I guess Judy should make the appointment since she came in second.

Update IV: Leave Dan Walker alone. Walker keeps getting lumped in with the other Illinois governors who have been convicted of something. I suppose that's to hype the all Illinois politicians are corrupt meme. But keep in mind, Walker’s conviction came for crimes committed after he was out of state government. The charges had nothing to do with him being governor. I’m not excusing Walker, just saying he really can’t be put into the “corrupt and convicted governor’s” club.

Update V: So now Obama is calling for Blagojevich to resign. Is Blago going to listen to anyone? At this point, it may not just be arrogance that keeps him from resigning but a sense of being backed into a corner. The guy already thought he wasn’t making enough money, he probably knows that if he quits ain’t no one going to hire him. He might as well hang on as long as can and hope that’s a long time. I guess he might also be delusional enough to think he can ride it out. It seems to work for the Bush administration.

Update VI: Everyone is lauding Patrick Fitzgerald for his impressive crime-busting record. And while the man certainly does have talent, it’s easy (easier) to rack up kills in target-rich environments like Illinois and the Bush administration.

Update VII: So does the Blagojevich scandal effectively mute calls for the early release of George Ryan from prison? I think it does. That doesn’t mean George Bush won’t commute Ryan’s sentence to time served, but I doubt we’ll be hearing much from Dick Durbin on the matter anymore.

Update VIII: Rich Miler reports on about a hundred good reasons why it would be best to just expedite impeachment of Blagojevich (assuming he really won’t resign) and let Governor Quinn appoint the new senator from Illinois.